Local organizations team up for survey seeking to get Worcester City Council candidates’ stances on land use, housing, and mobility policies
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Local organizations have teamed up to launch a survey seeking to catalog the stances of Worcester electoral candidates on issues relating to development and transportation.
The survey asks questions relating to issues which include rent prices and housing affordability, minimum parking requirements, zoning, urban tree canopies, and transportation. The Worcester Urban Planning Partnership plans on posting responses it receives to its website.
Worcester Urban Planning Partnership worked with organizations including, Strong Towns Worcester, and WalkBike Worcester to launch the survey. Mark Borenstein, partner at Prince Lobel Tye, and Jordan Berg-Powers, a nonprofit consultant and chairperson of the Worcester Zoning Board of Appeals, are also part of the effort.
Joyce Mandell of the Worcester Urban Planning Partnership said the survey seeks to get candidates’ opinion on a number of development plans which have been created in recent years to guide the City’s growth forward, including the Worcester Now | Next Citywide Long-Range Plan and the Housing Production Plan, which found Worcester needs to construct 12,304 new housing units by 2033 to keep up with expected growth.
“We want this to be an educational tool, so that candidates are really delving into these plans, wrestling with the policies that are in those plans, and then giving their spin on how they would take them forward over the next couple of years,” Mandell said.
Worcester’s preliminary election will narrow down the field of at-large council candidates and the District E school committee field.
The preliminary election will be held on Tuesday. Early voting has been held throughout the week and concludes today at 5 p.m. at the Worcester Public Library.
Worcester’s full municipal election is scheduled for Nov. 4, with early voting set to begin Oct. 25.
The Worcester Regional Research Bureau and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette are holding five debates for candidates ahead of Nov. 4, starting with an at-large school committee debate on Sep. 24.
Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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